Thought

I’ve been reading a biography about George Washington.

The men who founded the United States were brilliant demigods and Washington wasn’t exactly on their level in terms of brainpower.

So, what was Washington’s secret to rising to first place amongst their ranks?

He never shied away from assessing himself.

Whenever he discovered an error in his conduct or shortcoming in himself, he confronted and fixed it.

This process of self-reflection and self-improvement turned him into a man who could lead an army against the greatest empire on Earth and win, then found a nation and become its first ruler.

Self-reflection is a superpower.

Try this:

Get out some paper and a pen.

Take a few minutes today and think over last year.

It’s good to recognize what you got right. Write it down. Feel good about it.

But what’s going to get you ahead this year is to recognize the things that held you back.

Write out the top 3 things you want to improve about yourself or your conduct.

I find 3 to be a magic number. It’s not so many things that you can’t easily remember what you’re even trying to do, but it’s enough to be significant.

Once you’ve got your 3 things, spend a few minutes on each and write out what overcoming each one would look like.

This is your battle plan. Keep this piece of paper handy.

If you’re serious about improving yourself, read it once per day when you wake up.

There’s no reason why it needs to take the whole year to fix these things. Once they are resolved, do it again.

Study yourself, write down a plan and execute on it.

Tactic

Have you ever noticed how a few weeks after you’ve read something, you forget much of what you learned?

To combat this, I’m trying out a a more active style of reading.

I’m keeping a journal nearby and writing down quotes and notes from the book I’m reading.

It’s made the process of reading more engaging since I’m always on the hunt for the next nugget of wisdom I want to keep.

The other benefit will be my custom reference material for each book I read.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

P.s. did you know you can reply to these letters? I’d love to hear what you think of each edition and also questions/suggestions for other topics you’d like me to write about.

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Tome

Tool

I hope this week’s 5 T’s have your T levels surging!

If you found this newsletter valuable, share it with a man who wants to increase his T and invite him to join our brotherhood.

In Victory,

Alexander